Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: North Korea, July 2007 COUNTRY PROFILE: NORTH KOREA July 2007 COUNTRY Formal Name: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK; Chos4n Minjujußi Inmin Konghwaguk). 조선 민주주의 인민 공화국 Short Form: North Korea (Chos4n). 조선 Click to Enlarge Image Term for Citizen(s): North Korean(s) (Chos4n Inmin). 조선 인민 Capital: P’y4ngyang. 평양 Major Cities: The largest city is P’y4ngyang, with a reported 3.3 million inhabitants in 2005. According to the 1993 census, others, based on population size, are Namp’o, Hamhßng, Ch’4ngjin, Kaes4ng, Sinßiju, and W4nsan (all with populations of more than 300,000). Independence: August 15, 1945, from Japan; Democratic People’s Republic of Korea founded September 9, 1948. National Public Holidays: New Year’s Day (January 1), Kim Jong Il’s Birthday (February 16– 17), International Women’s Day (March 8), Day of the Sun (Kim Il Sung’s Birthday, April 15– 16), Army Day (April 25), International Workers’ Day (May 1), Fatherland Liberation War Victory Day (July 27), National Liberation Day (August 15), Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Founding Day (September 9), Korean Workers’ Party Founding Day (October 10), and Constitution Day (December 27). Also celebrated are Lunar New Year’s Day (variable date in January or February), Surinal (spring festival, variable date in April or May, formerly called Tano or Dano), and Han’gawi (autumn festival, September 28–30, formerly called Ch’us4k). Flag: The North Korean flag has three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple width), and blue; the red band is edged in white; on the hoist side of the red band is a white disk with a red five-pointed star. The two blue stripes symbolize peace, the red stripe stands for socialism, Click to Enlarge Image and the white stripes represent the purity of the North Korean ideals. The five-pointed red star indicates the leadership of the Korean Workers’ Party. The white disc surrounding the star suggests the traditional symbol for the universe—T’aeguk. 1 Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: North Korea, July 2007 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Prehistory: Paleolithic excavations show that humans inhabited the Korean Peninsula 500,000 years ago. From around 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, Neolithic humans also inhabited the area, leaving behind pottery and ground and polished stone tools. Around 2000 B.C., a new pottery culture spread into the peninsula from China. Early History: By the fourth century B.C., a number of walled-town states had been noted in Korea by Chinese officials. The most illustrious site, known to historians as Old Chos4n, was located in what today is the southern part of northeastern China and northwestern Korea. Old Chos4n civilization was based on bronze culture and consisted of a political federation of walled towns. The boundary formed by the Amnok (Yalu) and Tuman (Tumen) rivers has been recognized for centuries as Korea’s northern limit. However, this was not always the case; Koreans ranged far beyond this border into northeastern China and Siberia, where sizable Korean minorities still live in the twenty-first century. Three Kingdoms: With the rise of the power and expansion of the Han empire in China (206 B.C.–A.D. 220), Old Chos4n declined. A new iron culture gradually emerged on the Korean Peninsula, and in the first three centuries A.D. a large number of walled-town states developed in southern Korea. Among them, the state of Paekche was the most important as it conquered its southern neighboring states and expanded northward to the area around present-day Seoul. To the north, near the Amnok, the state of Kogury4 had emerged by the first century A.D. and expanded in all directions up through 313 A.D. A third state—Silla—developed in the central part of the peninsula. These three states give name to the Three Kingdoms period (A.D. 246– 668). Although eventually Silla, allied with China, defeated both Paekche and Kogury4 to unify the peninsula by 668, modern-day North Korean historians claim the Kogury4 legacy as a key development in their history. During the Three Kingdoms period, Confucian statecraft and Buddhism were introduced to the Korean Peninsula and served as unifying factors. By 671 Silla had seized Chinese-held territories in the south and pushed the remnants of Kogury4 farther northward; Chinese commandaries (which dated back at least to the second century B.C.) had been driven off the peninsula by 676, thereby guaranteeing that the Korean people would develop independently, largely without outside influences. Kory4 Dynasty: Silla’s indigenous civilization flourished. Its aristocracy, centered in the capital, Ky4ngju, located in southeastern Korea near the modern-day port of Pusan, was renowned for its high level of culture. Among its most notable artifacts is the world’s oldest example of woodblock printing, the Dharani Sutra, dating back to 751. As Silla declined, a new state, known to historians as Later Kogury4, emerged in the central peninsula. When Wang K4n, the founder of the new state, assumed the throne in 918, he shortened the dynastic name from Kogury4 to Kory4, the word from which the modern name Korea emerged. In 930 Kory4 defeated the forces of Later Paekche (which also had emerged as Silla declined) and the remnants of Silla. The Kory4 Dynasty (918–1392), with its capital at Kaes4ng, forged a tradition of aristocratic continuity that lasted well beyond Kory4 itself into the modern era. The Kory4 elite admired the civilization that emerged from China’s Song Dynasty (618–1279), and an active exchange of trade goods and artistic styles took place during this period. In the thirteenth century, Kory4 was subjected to invasions by the Mongols. Once defeated, Kory4’s armies, using Korean ships, 2 Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: North Korea, July 2007 participated in the ill-fated Mongol invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281. The Mongols continued to hold domains in Kory4 even after their defeat by China’s Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), and the Kory4 court divided into pro-Mongol and pro-Ming factions. Chos4n Dynasty: The pro-Ming faction at the Kory4 court was victorious, and its leader, Yi S4ng-gye, founded Korea’s longest dynasty, the Chos4n (1392–1910), with its capital at Seoul. Yi S4ng-gye initiated land reforms, declared state ownership of property, and built a new tax base. Although there were some traditional class structures that were uniquely Korean, Chos4n society became deeply influenced by Confucianism; a new secular society developed, and a new Korean mass culture emerged. A phonetic-based alphabet—han’gßl—was developed in the fifteenth century by a king who also fostered the extensive use of movable metal type for book publications. Han’gßl did not come into general use until the twentieth century. North Korea now uses han’gßl exclusively, whereas in the South, Chinese characters are also used along with han’gßl. Chos4n faced major Japanese invasions in 1592 and 1597 that brought devastation to the peninsula. Although the Japanese were defeated and Chos4n began to recover, a new emerging force—the Manchu—invaded both Korea and China. The Manchu established a new dynasty in China—the Qing (1644–1911)—and established tributary relations with Chos4n. Chos4n then experienced a long period of peace. However, as China declined and Japan emerged as a modernizing regional power in the late nineteenth century, Seoul began reforms in an effort to keep the foreign powers at bay. Nevertheless, in 1876 Japan imposed an unequal treaty on the Chos4n court that opened three Korean ports to Japanese commerce and gave Japanese nationals extraterritorial rights. China’s influence over Korea came to a definitive end as a result of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. At the same time, a large peasant rebellion—led by Tonghak (Eastern Learning) Movement advocates—broke out, and the Chos4n court invited in Chinese troops. By 1900 the Korean Peninsula had become the focus of an intense rivalry among the foreign powers then seeking to carve out spheres of influence in East Asia. Japan and Russia both sought to protect their own interests in Korea by dividing the kingdom in two at the thirty- eighth parallel. Following the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, in which Japan was victorious, Russia recognized Japan’s paramount rights in Korea. Unchallenged internationally, Japan turned Korea into its colony in 1910. Japanese Occupation: From 1910 to 1945, Korea was under the yoke of Japanese colonial control. Tokyo imposed a Japanese ruling elite, a new central state administration, a modern non- Confucian education system, Japanese investment, and even the Japanese language. This unwelcome imposition was considered illegitimate and humiliating by Koreans and built on a traditional love (by some of the elite)/hate relationship with the island empire. Inevitably, Korean nationalism and an armed resistance emerged. Nationalist and communist groups developed in the 1920s to set the scene for the future divisiveness on the Korean Peninsula. The Korean Communist Party (KCP) was founded in Seoul in 1925. At the same time, various nationalist groups emerged, including an exiled Korean Provisional Government in Shanghai. When Japan invaded neighboring Manchuria in 1931, Korean and Chinese guerrillas joined forces to fight the common enemy. After the defeat of Japan in 1945, resistance to Japan became the main legitimating doctrine of North Korea; North Koreans trace the origin of their army, leadership, and ideology back to this resistance. For the next five decades, the top North Korean leadership 3 Library of Congress – Federal Research Division Country Profile: North Korea, July 2007 would be dominated by a core group that had fought the Japanese in the old Manchu homeland, Manchuria.